Steve Wynn Quotes

Posturing is counterproductive. Posturing only works if things are screwed up.

- Steve Wynn

We recruit our people for personality. We look for the people person, with innate warmth, sweetness, and intelligence. These are the people who are sending your message out to the customers and potential customers, so we recruit for personality first and foremost.

- Steve Wynn

In the last 680 million years of the four and a half billion that this planet has existed, life has been determined by two principal forces: the warmth and the diffused energy of the sunlight coming through our atmosphere, and water. Those are the primordial forces of life - sunlight and water.

- Steve Wynn

You watch television and see what's going on on this debt ceiling issue. And what I consider to be a total lack of leadership from the President and nothing's going to get fixed until the President himself steps up and wrangles both parties in Congress.

- Steve Wynn

Getting things straight in your head is a major achievement because there's so much clutter out there. You've got to push aside the static to really hear the music.

- Steve Wynn

When you hear a politician say 'fair share,' you are talking about hypocritical political propaganda. You are not talking about an intelligent discussion of who is paying what and who isn't paying taxes.

- Steve Wynn

If I complain about a traffic jam, I have no one to blame but myself.

- Steve Wynn

We have nothing but gratitude for the opportunity we have had here, and any other response would be ridiculous, irresponsible and a lie. It is that simple. I owe China; China doesn't owe me.

- Steve Wynn

I've never had difficulty dominating any market I've been in.

- Steve Wynn

I say don't overreact; cool your jets. Focus on things that you can control: your business, your employees' welfare, your guests, and the quality of the product that you dish up. Do that, keep your chin down, pay attention to business, and the sun will come up tomorrow. That's the way I figure it.

- Steve Wynn

If you don't have a voice that forces you back to basics, you're a dangerous person. Or to put it another way: You're at risk, and the people with you are at risk. I'm not a daredevil. I don't fly without a safety net.

- Steve Wynn

If you don't have a voice that forces you back to basics, you're a dangerous person. Or, to put it another way, you're at risk, and the people with you are at risk.

- Steve Wynn

What's the most fetching thing that provokes people? A volcano? Fountains that dance? A pirate ship that sinks? Some other animated device or presentation? Is that as strong as mystery? Allure, intrigue, is much more powerful... It taunts you.

- Steve Wynn

We're on our way to Greece, in the hands of a confused, foolish government. It's got to stop. It's got to stop.

- Steve Wynn

If you run a business, if you are responsible for a lot of people, you come to grips with the reality that you have to have discipline. You have to protect the enterprise in order to take care of the employees. So, therefore, you can't be wasteful. You can't squander things, or you jeopardize other people.

- Steve Wynn

Nevada Energy doesn't lose money. The gaming industry loses money. It employs all the people. It pays all the taxes. And if you take the P&L, the profit and loss, of the hotels in Las Vegas and Reno, it is a number that is minus, not plus, minus.

- Steve Wynn

Capital structure isn't an eyeshade economic thing: It's about your ability to protect your workforce and your service levels.

- Steve Wynn

I am a self-made brat.

- Steve Wynn

I have very little respect for the integrity of the trading on the exchange in most stocks. And I have particular disdain for the fact that the SEC has failed to deal with high-frequency traders who are doing nothing more than taking advantage of inside information, a buy or a sell order, because of technology advantages.

- Steve Wynn

Our government is printing money, and it's degrading the living standard of every person in America. It's the cause of frustration, anger, and confusion.

- Steve Wynn

I'm killing two birds at once, so to speak. Animal-based food kills people. This way, by going vegan... we get healthy and save animals. I'm being selfish, too, because if I can get my employees healthier, we cut down on sick days and gain more productivity.

- Steve Wynn

The guy keeps making speeches about redistribution and maybe we ought to do something to businesses that don't invest, their holding too much money. We haven't heard that kind of talk except from pure socialists. Everybody's afraid of the government and there's no need soft peddling it, it's the truth. It is the truth.

- Steve Wynn

My father died during open-heart surgery on March 29 of my senior year in college. I was getting set to go to law school. I remember sitting in the waiting room when the doctor walked in. I said to myself, The worst possible thing just happened. What will you do?

- Steve Wynn

The most impressive person I've ever met? Elaine Wynn is no slouch. She's a much better person than me. But I've got her. Finders keepers, losers weepers. And it's been forty-seven years.

- Steve Wynn

I always wanted to meet Nelson Mandela, and I have friends who knew him, but I didn't get to meet Mandela. I always thought he was a spectacular character.

- Steve Wynn

Managing China is a daunting task, and they've got smart people doing it.

- Steve Wynn

Casino gambling is colorful and dramatic and theatrical.

- Steve Wynn

I had a disc giving me a lot of trouble, and I had four surgeries. Then I had a staph infection, so they had to open me up five times in four months... It was in the bottom of my back, the same incision. They should have put a zipper on it.

- Steve Wynn

I had an excellent Ivy League education, and it gave me a long view of things.

- Steve Wynn

Macau has been steady. The shocking, unexpected government is the one in Washington.

- Steve Wynn

What we know about the destination resort business is clearly established. But it's all about one thing, and one thing only. All of the razzmatazz and jazz we hear about facilities and everything else doesn't amount to a hill of beans. It's customer experience that determines the longevity and endurance of these enterprises.

- Steve Wynn

I support Democrats and Republicans. And I'm telling you that the business community in this company is frightened to death of the weird political philosophy of the President of the United States. And until he's gone, everybody's going to be sitting on their thumbs.

- Steve Wynn

You can't discuss Macau in any logical conversation. It will distort any reality.

- Steve Wynn

The minute you do any layoffs, you might as well lay off the whole joint because everybody forgets about the customer and worries about their job security.

- Steve Wynn

You need to build a place that is a touristic destination that brings in people from outside the region.

- Steve Wynn

I'll trade glib for common sense any day.

- Steve Wynn

I thrive in competitive environments. I've never been in a monopoly.

- Steve Wynn

This generation... they have a different attitude. Instead of sitting and watching something, they want to be a part of it - they're very hedonistic and sensual.

- Steve Wynn

I've changed my will to show my concern for animal rights.

- Steve Wynn

Donald calls me and asks me what I think. Very often I will answer him, but Donald Trump is his own adviser. He is his own campaign manager.

- Steve Wynn

Artists, actors, people like that, they live in a very strange bubble of their own. They're mollycoddled; they're highly privileged.

- Steve Wynn

I'm not a daredevil. I don't fly without a safety net.

- Steve Wynn

I think, generally, the folks from mainland China have more positive feelings about the government here in many cases than the average Americans feel about their government.

- Steve Wynn

The government of Macau, of China, has been empirical and pragmatic and has brought hundreds of millions of people out of poverty, a feat unequaled in the history of civilization in any country.

- Steve Wynn

I am so focused on the fact that the conversation doesn't address any of the things I think are important. I think our political dialogue in America is distorted and completely off track.

- Steve Wynn

It's very difficult for the middle class in America to keep up because of the inflationary pressure and the devaluation of the dollar.

- Steve Wynn

It's very difficult to explain to a normal working citizen the implications of what $18 trillion in debt means and what it means when the Federal Reserve buys the U.S. Treasury bonds to finance our loss every month.

- Steve Wynn

The greatest thing that ever happened to me in my life was being allowed to do business in Macau and in China. I love it here. It has been the greatest single event in my commercial career. Period.

- Steve Wynn

I went public in 2002 in America, and do you know what Wall Street valued my concession in Macau at? Zero.

- Steve Wynn

My organization, my colleagues and I, are paid to run hotels in good times and fair times. We're professionals. That's what we do. I don't give a damn about the short-term market implications.

- Steve Wynn

A lot of places in Las Vegas are big boxes of stuff. The hotels I've built have had, for lack of a better term, a soul.

- Steve Wynn

This is what you need to do in a luxury business: look for people who will like being there every day.

- Steve Wynn

I'm a job creator.

- Steve Wynn

Keeping customers is about the experience, and the employees control the culture and temperature of the business. Never forget that.

- Steve Wynn

We never know what the Street is going to do with the funky trading.

- Steve Wynn

What excites me the most is working on new projects.

- Steve Wynn

Keep a strong balance sheet, don't get over-leveraged, and try to protect the security of your employees.

- Steve Wynn

And those of us who have business opportunities and the capital to do it are going to sit in fear of the President. And a lot of people don't want to say that. They'll say, God, don't be attacking Obama. Well, this is Obama's deal and it's Obama that's responsible for this fear in America.

- Steve Wynn

This office is smaller than the last one I had. I'm not trying to impress people. I want to be close to them.

- Steve Wynn

I love being part of the Chinese scene as a businessman. That doesn't mean that there aren't short-term discomforts and adjustments.

- Steve Wynn

Remember that the Communist Party is a meritocracy in China.

- Steve Wynn

'Le Reve' may be one of the three best pictures Pablo Picasso ever painted.

- Steve Wynn

I don't want any more concentration camps for animals that are cruelly treated, force-fed to fatten themselves up for our consumption.

- Steve Wynn

No one has any idea what's next... the uncertainty of the business climate in America is frightening, frightening to everybody, and it's delaying the recovery.

- Steve Wynn

Guys like me are job creators, and we don't like having a bulls-eye painted on our back.

- Steve Wynn

I want people to be transported by the hotel. I'm thinking, What is it that would make people be delighted and amazed?

- Steve Wynn

Someone who will take responsibility for the real welfare of the American people, to be honest with them. I'd like to have that adult in the room.

- Steve Wynn

Money doesn't make people happy. People make people happy.

- Steve Wynn

I believe in Las Vegas. I think its best days are ahead of it. But I'm afraid to do anything in the current political environment in the United States.

- Steve Wynn

Money is a way of expressing no compromise.

- Steve Wynn

Rich people only like being around rich people.

- Steve Wynn

Government has never increased the standard of living of one single human being in civilization's history. For some reason that simple truth has evaded everybody.

- Steve Wynn

In business or in life, focus on the things over which you do have some control. And don't fret about all the other problems. Most of the time, they don't come true anyway!

- Steve Wynn

Most people I know that are successful have a few things in common that are undeniable: driving ambition, and they have applied that to something they're good at, that they love doing... and they are fun to be around, especially when they're talking about their passion.

- Steve Wynn

Nobody likes being around poor people, especially poor people.

- Steve Wynn

Washington is unpredictable these days.

- Steve Wynn

Did we not all grow up saying we had to have four glasses of whole milk a day for healthy bones? It's ridiculous. It's liquid cholesterol.

- Steve Wynn

Other people's successes are good news - for them and for you. Good for you because they show you a way to go.

- Steve Wynn

I've become an animal rights activist.

- Steve Wynn

People that create jobs create tax payers, which benefits society as a whole.

- Steve Wynn

Change is not threatening.

- Steve Wynn

I don't play computer games. What I do is yell at my secretary and say, 'Go on the Internet, and find this or that.'

- Steve Wynn

Anyone can make things that are beautiful; we need to make things that are remarkable.

- Steve Wynn

The pent-up demand for the good life in China is extraordinary.

- Steve Wynn

Keep it simple. Tell the truth. People can smell the truth.

- Steve Wynn